‘People born in US territories have a constitutional right to citizenship’

By Jayvee Vallejera

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling may not have directly addressed U.S. citizenship in U.S. territories, but it has implications for the millions of American citizens in the five inhabited U.S. territories, according to the nonprofit advocacy group Right to Democracy.

Neil Weare, co-director of Right to Democracy, said the high court’s June 30 decision makes it clear that anyone born on U.S. soil has a constitutional right to U.S. citizenship.

The decision struck down President Donald Trump's executive order, which attempted to invalidate birthright citizenship as part of his immigration sweep.

The directive targeted children born in the United States to parents who are either illegal aliens on temporary visas or are illegal aliens.

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. “We keep that promise today.”

The ruling has important implications, particularly for American Samoans, who are considered U.S. nationals but not recognized as U.S. citizens.

The complex distinction poses a recurring question before the court.

One case involves American Samoans living in Alaska, who were charged with electoral fraud for participating in U.S. elections on the assumption that nationality was synonymous with citizenship for voting purposes. 

Other previous cases involved American Samoans in Utah, who sued the federal government after being denied the right to vote because they are not considered U.S. citizens.

Andra Samoa, a former American Samoan legislator, said the Supreme Court ruling sends a clear message—that federal officials cannot simply redefine whether someone has a right to citizenship.

“With so many of our American Samoan brothers and sisters facing criminal prosecution in Alaska because the federal government denies them recognition as U.S. citizens, this Supreme Court ruling is important for our community,” Samoa said.

Charles Ala'ilima, an American Samoan lawyer involved in the Alaska case, said the high court's ruling strengthens the argument that all charges against his clients must be dropped because they are, in fact, U.S. citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment.

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Many important voices in U.S. territories welcomed the high court's ruling, emphasizing that U.S. citizenship is a constitutional right that cannot be turned on or off at will.

"This is significant for people born in U.S. territories, because the federal government continues to argue—contrary to the text and history of the Citizenship Clause—that it can turn citizenship on and off in U.S. territories,” Weare said.

Adi Martínez-Román, co-director of Right to Democracy, said the ruling makes it clear that, except for very narrow exceptions, the United States must recognize fundamental citizenship rights for all people born under its rule.

U.S. Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett said the high court’s decision in Trump v. Barbara is important to the U.S. Caribbean territory, given the federal government's claim that territorial citizenship is a legislative privilege rather than a constitutional right.

"That’s not just contrary to the Constitution but contrary to the 1917 Treaty of Transfer, which expressly recognized that Virgin Islanders would be recognized as U.S. citizens,” she said.

Former Guam Sen. Mary Camacho Torres said the decision should serve as a roadmap for recognizing that people born in U.S. territories have a constitutional right to U.S. citizenship that neither Congress nor the president can take away.

“No elected official or legislative body should have a veto over whether someone born in Guam or anywhere else on U.S. soil is a U.S. citizen," said Torres, who is running for Congress.

"Whatever the people of Guam decide regarding our future political status, so long as we are under the U.S. flag, we should be entitled to equal citizenship and equal rights."

Three former Puerto Rican lawmakers also applauded the ruling.

Ana Irma Rivera Lassén said they have long argued that the political branches do not have unilateral power to define who is and isn't a citizen, and the Supreme Court's ruling confirms that.

Eduardo Bhatia said the Supreme Court ruling is a powerful reaffirmation that birthright citizenship is a constitutional guarantee that no president can erase by executive order.

Zoe Laboy said Puerto Ricans recognized right away what was at stake when Trump sought to exclude the children of immigrants from the protections of citizenship, and the high court “was right to reject that exclusion.”

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